Quick and Easy Kids Lunchboxes on a Budget with Jack’s Supermarket

Ad – This post is in collaboration with Jack’s Supermarket

Going back to school this September has been quite the emotional rollercoaster! Like many families across the globe, not only were both my children returning to school after 6 months at home during lockdown; but both starting new schools too – my youngest heading into a school based nursery for the very first time and my eldest to a brand new junior school.

As a Mum, I had not only had to get my head around new COVID restrictions, staggered start times (including an impossible task of being in two schools at exactly the same time for drop off) and the return of the dreaded parent pay emails, but also create packed lunches for school for the very first time!

With money being tight in this household at the moment, trying to create healthy yet inexpensive packed lunches that the girls would actually eat and enjoy was the first hurdle – and this is where Jack’s Supermarket came in.

Who are Jack’s?

Jack’s discount supermarket is part of the Tesco family, and have stores all across the UK.

A supermarket packed full of great quality products at outstanding prices, Jack’s are passionate about supporting and working with regional farmers, growers and producers, with 100% of their fresh chicken, lamb, beef and milk from British famers.

Not only do Jack’s sell big brands at great prices, but have their own range of Jack’s branded products too, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. Every two weeks there is a fab five fruit and vegetables at outstanding prices currently cucumbers for just 39p and four pears for 59p! These offers reset every fortnight to reflect seasonal fresh produce.

For the savvy shoppers amongst you, you’ll also be pleased to know that Jack’s don’t just sell food!

Every Thursday, Jack’s launch new products in there When Its Gone Its Gone Ailse (WIGIG) with a wide range of products from homeware to electricals, kids toys to furniture. I know only too well the pull of the middle aisle, but being able to pick up some practical essentials at the same time as the food shop is always a winner!

Our Healthy School Lunches on a budget

Being a single income family at the moment and currently in an area of local COVID intervention, sticking to a budget and trying to keep my children fit and healthy feels more important than ever.

Mike headed off to our local Jack’s supermarket to pick up some goodies for the girls lunchboxes. He took £40 to spend and was so shocked when he got to the till that he actually said HOW MUCH? We picked up a huge amount of food for just £24, with not only enough to make our girls lunchboxes for the week, but some evening meals too (just a small selection of which is shown below).

My Budget Friendly Kids’ Lunchbox Ideas 

I wanted to create some fun and nutritious lunchboxes for the girls and ensure it was something that would actually get eaten and not come back at the end of the day untouched.

It’s important for me to include lots of fruit and veg, whilst at the same time some familiar flavours and child friendly options that even my youngest picky eater wouldn’t turn her nose up at!

Here are some of the girls favourite budget friendly kids lunchboxes using the fresh produce I bought from Jack’s.

Chicken and cheese roll ups

When it comes to packed lunches sandwiches can be just a little… well boring. Whilst I love seeing all the fancy sandwich art creations on Pinterest, we have to be realistic in that most working parents just ain’t got the time for that! Roll Ups are super quick and easy to make and unlike sandwiches which are best made fresh on the morning; these can be easily made the night before and popped in the fridge ready to go.

Simply layer a tortilla wrap with cheese slices and meat of choice e.g. sliced chicken or ham (adding lettuce or baby leaf salad if desired), roll up and slice into small sections. I used cocktail sticks to hold these together overnight, but for safety reasons removed these when I added them to her lunchbox.

Pitta Bread and humous

The girls love what they commonly refer to as a picky lunch, so sliced pitta bread and humous with lots of crunchy fresh veg is a great healthy option for their school lunchbox and is a great way to bring all the colours of the rainbow.

These Strawberry yoghurt drinks are ideally sized for lunch boxes too, with no faffing around with spoons that will inevitably get lost of discarded at the bottom of a rucksack!

Vegetable Quesadillas

Like many children, my girls are much more likely to eat veg when theres some fun flavours involved and quesadillas are a big family favourite in this house!

Whilst super tasty served hot for a quick and easy evening meal, they are also ideal sliced into small triangles and eaten cool. We filled ours with mild cheddar cheese, sweet peppers, red onion and some mild salsa.

Lunch box snacks

As well as the main element of the girls lunchboxes, I made sure I packed the girls bentos full of fruit and vegetables too, crunchy carrot sticks, slices of cucumber, and easy to eat fruit such as blueberries, sliced strawberries and quartered grapes.

So what’s the verdict? 

We’re a few weeks into the school term now, and whilst it hasn’t quite gone according to plan (Erin’s been at home already for some of it due to covid cases in her class!) the lunchboxes have gone down a treat, with very little coming home at the end of the school day bar the odd apple with just one bite taken out of it (lets face it, some things never change).

We’ve been really impressed with just how much we were able to get for our money at Jack’s and at no point did I feel like we’d sacrificed on quality. I’ve very quickly learned that school lunches don’t need to be expensive and that you really can keep the costs down and spread your shop across the school week without breaking the bank.

You can check out the location of your nearest Jack’s Supermarket here.

What are your kids eating for their packed lunches? I’d love to hear your suggestions too! 

*This is a sponsored post with Jack’s supermarket. We were given a voucher to spend in store and compensated for our time however as aways, all thoughts and opinions are my own*